THOUGHTS UPOM HUNTING. 1 83 



"be two; one of whom fliould always be forward 

 with the huntfman. You cannot conceive the 

 many ills that may happen to hounds that are 

 left behind. I do not know that I can enume- 

 rate one half of them ; but of this you may be 

 certain, that the keeping them together is the 

 fareft means to keep them ftcady. When left to 

 themfelves, they fcldom refufe any blood they can 

 get; they acquire many bad habits; they become 

 conceited, a terrible fault in any animal ; and 

 they learn to lye upon the fcent, an unpardona- 

 ble fault in a fox-hound : betides this, they fre- 

 quently get a trick of hunting by themfelves, and 

 they feldom are worth much afterwards. The 

 lying out in the cold, perhaps the whole night, 

 can do no good to their contlitutions, nor v/ill 

 the being worried by fhecp-dogs or maftiifs be of 

 fervice to their bodies : all this, however, and 

 much more, they are liable to. T believe I 

 mentioned, in my fourth letter, that the ilraw- 

 houfe door liiould be left open when any hounds 

 are miffing. 



Every country is foon known, and nine foxes 

 out of ten, with the wind in the fam-e quarter, 

 wdll follow the fume track. It is eafy, therefore, 

 for the whipper-in to cut fhort, and catch the 

 hounds again; at lea ft it is fo in the country 

 where I hunt. With a high fcent you cannot 

 pufh on hounds too much. Screams keep the 

 N 4 fox 



